Call to action over exam leak scandal
Umalusi has called for strong action against those who have been implicated in the examination paper leak scandal.
|||Pretoria - South Africa's Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training, Umalusi, has called for strong action to be taken against learners and officials who have been implicated in the examination paper leak scandal.
Professor John Volmink, chairperson of the exams quality watchdog, said in Pretoria on Wednesday: “It is common knowledge by now that in 2015 the system has had to deal with the unfortunate incidents of paper leakages in Limpopo, which ultimately spilled over to Gauteng and Mpumalanga. In the main, Life Sciences papers 1 and 2 were affected by the leakage.”
As a result of the exam paper leakage, all learners in the Vhembe District in Limpopo were required to rewrite Life Sciences P1 and P2.
“Umalusi is very concerned about this trend and takes the view that strong action must be taken against those learners and officials who have made themselves guilty of these acts of dishonesty,” Volmink said.
“Umalusi will therefore not approve the release of the results of all the identified culprits in the Vhembe District, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.” An investigation into the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations leakage was still continuing.
“Nineteen candidates in the Vhembe District, three candidates in Mpumalanga and four candidates in Gauteng were identified as implicated individuals,” he said. “Furthermore, one suspect in Limpopo was arrested and charged with fraud and another suspect in Gauteng was also arrested.”
In 2014, the credibility of South Africa's matric examinations was badly tarnished by large-scale group copying. Volmink said on Wednesday: “Furthermore, it is with bitter disappointment that we note that evidence from the Department of Basic Education indicates that the phenomenon of group copying has not been completely eliminated.
“This year has seen a number of new schools being implicated in group copying. However, we also acknowledge the significant reduction in the number of alleged cases of group copying compared to 2014.
“It is also worth noting that detection of these irregularities attests to a very functional and vigilant system,” Volmink said.
“To date a total of 26 alleged cases of group copying have been reported in the following provinces: Gauteng (6), KwaZulu-Natal (12), Limpopo (1), Mpumalanga (7). Further investigations are underway and the results from all the implicated centres will remain blocked.
“We want to extend a serious warning to those who are implicated that drastic measures will be taken against them.”
Volmink added that irregularities occurred in all examinations/assessments and the examination system had mechanisms to manage irregularities, to avoid lapses in examination credibility. “However, whether an irregularity becomes a threat to the system depends on the nature and extent of the irregularity.”
Volmink said increased vigilance by the national and provincial education departments had seen that although “acts of dishonesty still exist it was far less pervasive this year than in 2014”.
Umalusi further praised the swift action of the DBE following news of the exam paper leak, saying this had limited the spread of the leakage.
The results will officially be released next week but Umalusi has said the NSC examination results were down compared to a year previously. A total, 674 232 full-time and 127 456 part-time candidates sat for the NSC exams in 2015.
ANA